Anyone been to Mombasa?

[HakunaMyPatatasBravas]

I’ve had an amazing opportunity to travel to Kenya for a weeks safari with my family, and then to Mombasa for a couple of days to relax before travelling home. My options are to stay in Mombasa for 3 days with my entire family, or 6 days, three of which would be by myself with two kids. I’ve been to Kenya but not Mombasa so not sure how comfortable I’d feel so far away from home alone with two kids under ten years old. At Kenya there was a lot of security and bomb checks on cars etc. is Mombasa similar? The hotel looks amazing but my kids very active, so I’m worried the hotel wouldn’t have enough to do. The plan would be to venture out and explore the area when my family are there, but I have to make the decision to stay longer now, before we go. Has anyone been to Mombasa? I’m just after opinions and experiences please!

Yes but 30 years ago
It's much hotter than Nairobi
There used to be a lot of street robberies, and don't eat the peanuts from the street vendors
It's beautiful though.

I have but it was 12 years ago. Tbh we didn't leave the hotel because we were knackered after being on safari with all the early starts, so we had enough to do relaxing at the hotel pool/playing table tennis/snorkling on the beach.

The fabric market there was amazing

@allaboardtheplaybus that’s the same reason we are going, is there enough to do for 5-6 days? Was the beach safe with kids? I’ve read online about beach boys pestering

Went 20 years ago and had the most amazing experience. The beach attached to our hotel was fantastic but everyone went back into the hotel by 6pm.

We hired a driver via the hotel to take us around everywhere including some of the markets.

Mombasa is one of the few places I have felt genuinely unsafe. We were travelling as a small group in a big land-rover and got stuck in traffic, it was quite scary as a gang started eyeing us up, I've never felt so vulnerable.
Our hotel was lovely but had loads of armed security. The pool attendant got mugged on his way home from work one night.

Has anyone been to this forum lately?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays

YABU @HakunaMyPatatasBravas

@HakunaMyPatatasBravas
We ended up avoiding the beach due to the constant pestering from the beach boys. They would mob you as soon as you got on the beach!

We did get offered sunglasses and things like that by beach traders but I don't remember it being constant. I think spending a few days after your safari would be enough to be honest. It depends on the hotel and what facilities they've got.

We spent two weeks in a hotel on the coast at Mombassa and did a couple of boat trips and a 3 day safari. We never left the hotel and barely went on the beach. It's the only place we've ever felt genuinely unsafe. On the coaches between the airport and hotel and on the coaches for the boat tours and safari, we were told to keep our arms away from the open coach windows as there was a risk of jewelry/watches being snatched in congestion and on the ferry across the river. The only places we actually felt safe and unpestered were on safari and on the boat tours and within the hotel grounds. Loads of people pestering you on the beach even though the hotel had armed guards on the beach. We basically just stayed by the pool all the days we were in the hotel!